


Things go bump in the night

by JellyFicsnFucks



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-25
Updated: 2019-04-25
Packaged: 2020-01-31 21:45:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18600013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JellyFicsnFucks/pseuds/JellyFicsnFucks
Summary: Papyrus is awake at night, watching as his magic gets out of control from other universes, afraid to interfere.





	Things go bump in the night

Sometimes, in the middle of the night, things would float around as though gravity had no hold on them. Books would amble about off the shelves and tumble upwards until they tapped the ceiling with a small poke. There they would remain until Sans woke up~ and everything in the house would fall to gravity once more. 

 

Papyrus woke in the middle of this nightly ritual. Always fearing what lied on the other side of that wall. Sans’s nightmares always fueled his magic abilities past what the lazy pile of bones would normally do with them. The night terrors seemed to use his gravity magic without him knowing. 

 

And in fear that Papyrus could do nothing for his brother, in fear that he couldn’t even stand by his side without being prey to the same unknown and terrifying magic power, Papyrus would coop up in his room. Unable to do anything. 

 

That is…. until one night... there was a knock.

 

The knock was too shy… too evenly paced to be the normal brother he admired. The monster on the other side of the door was frightened in ways that were laughable to Papyrus. How could this judge be frightened of anything? It was Papyrus, the little brother, who grew fearful of his big brothers abilities, so why the frightened knock? 

 

... And he knew in an instant, it was because it wasn’t his brother anymore. This wasn’t just a normal nightmare this time, Sans had fully lost control of his powers and teleported off somewhere.  _ That  _ place. Where it was kill or be killed. Sans was gone. 

 

He hoped his brother would be safe for the night… but Papyrus dreaded what would happen to himself more than his older brother. Sans could take care of himself. Papyrus on the other hand… he had to deal with the knock on his door. 

 

Papyrus shuffled off his bed, but as he threw his blankets off himself those too came to float with the amassing collection on his ceiling.  Nevermind, it would all come down eventually. For now, he opened the door to the lesser monster crying on the other side. Red. 

 

“...C..Can I sleep here tonight Boss?” 

 

Papyrus sighed as he’d done a dozen times when he heard that name. He’d grown tired of explaining it to the sleepwalker but he tried again. “It's Cinnamon. Classic’s brother. I’m not Boss. He’s probably still home.”  He bent to a knee to look at Red’s hollow eye sockets, the monster was still somehow asleep. Dreaming maybe, as he interacted with the world in real time. “You should teleport home too, Red.” 

 

“...please … please let me sleep here.” The skeleton clutched at his too tight shirt, rubbing at phantom wounds again. Papyrus put a hand over his otherworldly brother and felt how fast his soul was beating. The red hum of magic was lingering under trembling bones, ready to summon an attack at any inclination of a threat. This is what Papyrus hated most. 

 

He hated being helpless to the insane amount of power both Red and his brother boasted. At least with Sans, he knew his brother. He knew to avoid triggers and how to put him asleep until morning. When Red started teleporting here, swapping out their places because for some damn reason the two of them had synchronized night terrors, Papyrus had no idea how to calm him down. It seemed, just his presence as - not boss- was enough to agitate the skeleton into attacking.

 

“Okay.” Papyrus let a small smile fall onto his face, feeling pity for his otherworldly brother. He shuffled back on his knees to allow Red to enter his room. The skeleton took one wobbly step forward then another, compelled to move by nothing more than a dream. He swung around like a zombie, using his magic to detect the floor space on an unconscious level. 

 

Papyrus winced, closing the door behind him and getting back to his bed. Red slumped to the floor beside the racecar bed. Always staying low to the floor like a pet. Papyrus had to be extra careful of moving him, picking up the bag of bones and allowing him to lie on the bed next to him. 

 

“Do you want a story, Red?” He asked pointlessly, he pet the side of Red’s skull. Not out of admiration or love, but out of the fear of what the skeleton might do if he wasn’t calm. He could see it already, the twisting in Red’s dark shirt showed how much agony his dream caused.  If his nightmares were anything like his brothers, there was blood in his dream, resets, murders, dust, bones snapping, and a child screaming. And always death. 

 

Sans told him he’d die again and again in so many different ways, always ending with the same strike to his ribs. Since Red clutched at the same spot, their nightmares were likely the same. “The human?”

 

A small nod into the sheets, rubbing a snotty face into his bed spread, confirmed it. Papyrus inhaled a long breath, rolling to his back and watching the storybooks litter the ceiling. Couldn’t really get those… but it didn’t matter he memorized those stories and Red wasn’t in any condition to look at pictures. 

 

But rather than a fairytale this time, Papyrus felt a bit like talking. He wanted to share something with the carbon copy of his brother that he could never do. “Once upon a time, there were two skeletons.” Papyrus turned back to Red, noticing how the crack in his skull had healed since he’d seen him last. Their encounters were short whenever the Fell brothers had mistakenly ended up on this side of the universe. They still had no clue what caused that… but it was becoming more and more frequent. 

 

“One was exceptionally handsome… and all the guard loved him. And the other was a slob… always late to work… and making ill advised puns.  …But that was just a mask to cover the truth. The skeleton was a monster. A real monster. He terrified his brother with his magic. And his manipulation of time… and parallel universes… I don't know how to wrap my head around it still.”  

 

Papyrus sighed, looking out at Red who had peacefully gone back to sleep. His night walking and fussing stopped.  Slowly the books begin to drift down from the ceiling and clatter atop the mattress with small taps. Pap kicks them with his foot, making space on the bed again for him and his brother to rest. 

 

“... Is your brother also afraid of you Red?”  Papyrus asks, but the only answer he gets is a soft snore. .


End file.
